Mindy Gianetti of Chesterfield Township knows how to deliver the news … and make it.

Gianetti, a Macomb Daily carrier for 11 years, knew something was wrong earlier this month when the pet dog of one of her regular customers was outside when she delivered the newspaper before 5:30 a.m.

“It’s not normal for that dog to be out then,” said Gianetti, who also noticed the previous day’s newspaper still outside and the usually tidy porch “messy.” The dog’s water bowl was filled with leaves and debris rather than its usual liquid.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” Gianett recalled of her delivery to the Mount Clemens home. “I could hear the TV in the background (in the home) and the back door was open a crack.

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“I called my manager Jeff (Johnson) and he said to call the police.” She also called another nearby Macomb Daily carrier (Sandra Moore) who she knew carried dog treats and she brought some to give to the hungry dog.

When Gianetti called the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department, “they were there within 2 minutes with an ambulance and officers. They took all the information and I stayed with the dog.”

She watched as they carried her customer out of the home to the waiting ambulance. The woman, Gianetti said, had probably been immobile in the home for more than a day and a half.

(The woman was taken to a local hospital and this week was listed in fair condition.)

“They said I called in the nick of time,” Gianetti said. The woman evidently had fallen after becoming ill.

Gianetti is used to taking care of others: She has a husband and three children and also tends to her ailing mother who lives next door to her.